The Black Boar Inn, once a banquet hall for bandits, had now become a base for their victims.
Around it, many gathered in groups, buzzing with activity.
“Miss Ronnie. Is it really alright for us to receive this?” a middle-aged man carefully asked while examining the pouch handed to him by Ronnie.
He was the village chief of a village that had been devastated by bandits.
He was also appointed as a representative to guide the victims back to the domain in place of Ronnie.
“You’ll need at least that much to safely return to Friedel territory. Originally, I should have protected you all personally, but I’m sorry for sending you off alone .”
The village chief, receiving Ronnie’s apology, waved his hands in embarrassment.
“No, no. What is there to be sorry about when you’re staying behind to rescue the young lady? Rather, we feel guilty for receiving support without being able to stay and help you in return.”
The number of people led by the village chief was staggering.
Among them were those who wanted to stay with Ronnie and help rescue the young lady, but Ronnie firmly declined.
Dorothea’s advice to evacuate the people as far away as possible before the auction started rang in her head.
Although she hadn’t been told the specific plan, Ronnie heeded the young witch’s “advice”, having never known her words to be frivolous.
Moreover, although she refrained from informing them openly, Ronnie thought the witch’s advice was wise for another reason.
…It costs too much money.
The number of liberated slaves had long since exceeded a hundred.
Treating them, clothing them, and feeding them—each of these actions cost money, as they had been weakened by the hardships they endured while captured.
They were managing somehow with the wealth recovered from the bandit group, but it was clear that if they kept spending without earning, this too would run out.
Ronnie had initially envisioned returning triumphantly with everyone after rescuing the young lady, but given the current situation, such an act would turn “the grand return of the heir” into the humiliating sight of “the heir and the beggars”.
To avoid such disgrace, it was prudent to send them back right away.
After ensuring everyone’s departure, Ronnie headed to the second floor of the inn.
She knocked on the door of the innermost room on the second floor, but there was no response.
Ronnie hesitated for a moment, then just opened the door with a short sigh.
Whether Ronnie came in or not, the Tin Knight and Dorothea were absorbed in their own work without giving her a single glance.
In a way, their attitude toward Ronnie might be seen as dismissive, but Ronnie, who had become accustomed to it over the past few days, didn’t mind much and spoke without concern.
“I’ve sent all the captured people back to their homes. Thank you again for providing the support funds.”
“Is there anything else I should take care of?”
“Did you manage the transportation well?”
“I’ve prepared two horses and a carriage.”
“Then rest. Once the auction starts, we might have to keep moving without rest. It would be best if you gathered your strength.”
Ronnie nodded, then hesitated before finally settling in a corner of the room.
Ronnie observed Dorothea.
For the past few days since the fight at the bandit headquarters, Dorothea had always seemed busy.
One day, she ground large animal bones into powder.
The next, she lit a lampless lamp on leaves with impressive stripes and collected the ashes.
On another day, she boiled snail shells in an unidentified liquid, and eventually put the gray gel-like product into a small bowl.
She even infused mana into still-living plant stems to make them wither, mixed different types of stone powder, and once even chanted spells for nearly half a day over a tray filled with blood.
Was magic originally …?
Ronnie had met the mages employed by Friedel domain a few times, but the “magic” used by them and Dorothea’s “magic” felt quite different.
To put it bluntly, Ronnie had never seen Friedel’s mages go through such “tedious” preparation processes.
Nor had she seen those mages display such a diverse set of abilities as Dorothea did.
The magic Ronnie was familiar with was specialized in things like shooting fireballs, throwing icicles, creating wind blades, and other forms of destruction.
If it’s like how there are various schools in swordsmanship, there’s nothing to say if magic is the same, but.
Although she was curious about many things, Ronnie didn’t bother to ask about it.
In the world of martial artists, it was a great rudeness to carelessly inquire about others’ techniques or schools. It didn’t seem like mages would be much different.
Shifting her gaze, Ronnie looked at the Tin Knight.
Unlike Dorothea, who was preparing various things, the Tin Knight focused solely on one thing.
Grasping the gently curved sword, and emitting silver mana from its edge.
The silver mana was sometimes thin and faint enough to remind one of a veil, sometimes thick and clear enough to obscure the shape of the sword, and sometimes even drawn out in strands like threads.
Ronnie let out a hollow laugh.
…Even the late lord couldn’t handle sword energy so freely like that.
The former lord, who was somewhat politically inept, was hailed as the kingdom’s best warrior.
If such a feat was beyond even him, it was likely beyond any knight in the kingdom as well.
Even if the kingdom itself wasn’t that powerful, the title of a country’s representative was never something to be taken lightly.
According to Ronnie’s common sense, it should certainly be so… but here, it seemed slightly different.
The ever-changing sword energy of the Tin Knight suddenly subsided and vanished entirely.
The Tin Knight turned his gaze to Dorothea, and Dorothea, who had been deeply engrossed in her work, also stopped her movements and turned her head sharply to glare at the Tin Knight.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you not to waste mana carelessly!? This is already the third time today!”
“What enlightenment, you damn bastard!? Either freeze to death or change your excuse pattern already!”
“Power-up event my foot!”
The witch vented her frustration with all her might while the Tin Knight waved his arms as if in protest.
In those petulant actions, which were like a child throwing a tantrum, there wasn’t even a shred of the dignity of a country’s representative.
It was hard to believe that this was the same knight who had mercilessly slaughtered the bandit group with cold and efficient swordsmanship.
Dorothea’s gaze turned to Ronnie.
“Hey, didn’t you say you were a knight?”
Ronnie shook her head in surprise.
“K-knight? I’m just a mere page.”
“But you should know roughly. This sword energy or whatever, is it normally used by consuming mana so recklessly?”
“It’s difficult to say definitively. It can vary depending on the school of swordsmanship, individual constitution or habits, and to begin with, I don’t know how much mana the knight possesses…”
“You just need to know the amount of mana, right?”
Ronnie’s question of “Huh?” didn’t make it out of her mouth as an enormous surge of mana flowed in through the wrist that Dorothea had suddenly grabbed.
Her vision blurred, her body felt lighter, and an overflowing vitality that made her feel like she could do anything rushed through her.
“…Hmm, it’s already full even though I haven’t even put in a quarter of what I put into him. Any more and you’d burst.”
Frowning as if something wasn’t to her liking, Dorothea released Ronnie’s wrist.
Ronnie was astonished, feeling the mana filling her body.
“H-how did you do that? Infusing mana into someone else’s body, unless you’ve learned the same, or at least a similar type of cultivation method, it should be impossible…!”
“That’s because different types of mana repel each other. I altered its nature to suit your body before infusing it, so you don’t have to worry about that. More importantly, if you were to use sword energy with this much mana, how long do you think it would last?”
This didn’t seem like something that should be brushed off so lightly.
While thinking that, Ronnie hurriedly began to focus on mana manipulation.
This was the second time in her life that she had handled mana in this way.
Ronnie clearly remembered the emotion she felt when the “young lady”, pitying the lone ordinary talent who remained a page while repeating basic training and menial tasks as her juniors were recognized as apprentice knights, gave up her share of the elixir used for training.
Back then, her mana manipulation itself was clumsy, causing her to exhaust all her mana and collapse right after forming sword energy, but this time, perhaps because of her past experience, she was able to form sword energy with relative ease.
Although it was infinitely crude and clumsy compared to the artistic sword energy created by the Tin Knight, the mere act of being able to maintain sword energy without strain was in itself a novel experience for Ronnie.
Of course, Dorothea was unaware of Ronnie’s sentimental reflection.
Ronnie, in truth, found the mana that was just thrown at her now less moving compared to the grace she received from the young lady when she was struggling and in pain, so she was able to consider Dorothea’s question with a cool head.
And, she reached a conclusion.
“…If I just sit here doing nothing with the sole intention of maintaining the sword energy , sitting, I estimate it would be possible for about 6 hours at most.”
It was a relatively long time, but in Ronnie’s opinion, this wasn’t a result of her own exceptional ability.
To begin with, Ronnie wasn’t even in full control of all the mana currently in her body, and the neglected mana was leaking out of her body like evaporating water.
If a proper expert had received the same amount of mana, they would have been able to maintain sword energy for a much longer time than her.
That was how much mana Dorothea had given her.
And thinking about it that way, she suddenly felt dumbfounded.
Didn’t she say it was less than a quarter of what she gives to the knight earlier?
Less than a quarter. That meant the Tin Knight was receiving at least four times the mana that was currently filling Ronnie’s body.
Not only that, but Dorothea had replenished it three times, just as she said. Rather than at least four times, in reality, it was at least twelve.
Then how immense is Dorothea’s mana to begin with?
Moreover, judging by her tone, she seemed to still have quite a bit of leeway.
Ronnie looked at Dorothea anew with eyes filled with awe.
Not only did the Tin Knight possess sword energy surpassing the kingdom’s best knight, but the girl beside him was equally extraordinary.
“You hear that? Your mana efficiency when using sword energy is terrible! Stick to physical combat and recovery, and no using sword energy unless it’s an emergency!”
“Forget looking cool! What if you run out of mana while fighting and suddenly stop, and I die in the meantime!? Especially when you can’t even receive mana remotely you relic of a bygone era!”
Their abilities were exceptional but their antics, to put it mildly, were rather childish.
Anyway, the fact that they were benefactors remained unchanged.
Ronnie, who had been staring at the two bickering figures with dead fish eyes, eventually came to a conclusion.
I guess I should just train too.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen! The specialty of Albert, the city of pleasure! Welcome to the grand auction!”
The fateful day had arrived.
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